1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to plasma reactor chambers, and more particularly to a plasma reactor chamber having a treatment surface opening in a wall of the chamber, with a vacuum seal disposed on the reactor wall surrounding the opening.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The applicants are generally unaware of prior art wherein the reactor chamber walls are not fully enclosed to support a low pressure environment. Thus, the utilization of a reactor chamber having a treatment opening in a chamber wall, wherein the surface to be treated covers the opening in the wall of the chamber, and wherein a low pressure seal surrounds the edge of the opening in the chamber wall to permit the establishment of a low pressure environment, appears novel.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,641, Plasma Treatment Apparatus, issued Aug. 30, 1988 to Keiser et al. This patent describes an open sided anode that is disposed within a vacuum chamber. A movable treatment surface is passed by the annode for plasma treatment. The shape of the reactor chamber which encloses the anode within the low pressure environment is indefinite. Further prior art, consisting of U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,702, issued Dec. 3, 1968 to L. H. Stauffer; U.S. Pat. No. 3,518,484, issued Jun. 30, 1970 to C. W. A. Maskell; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,585, issued Dec. 15, 1987 to Ohno, et al., teach particular types of low pressure chambers for electron beam and ion beam devices. However, these devices do not reveal an open faced reactor chamber wherein the surface to be treated forms one wall of the reactor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,521 issued Jul. 10, 1990 to Dinter et al. teaches a device for treating a continuous strip that is disposed upon a rotating drum. Dinter's device achieves an atmospheric pressure discharge process utilizing a metal cover to shield high Voltage electrodes from the work place and to contain a liquid aerosol in the glow region.